soooo.... found a head stone in my back yard...

so over the weekend we were doing some yard work and i was digging around our concrete patio in the backyard to lay down mulch along the edge. as im digging around the edge where there use to be a gate i find a square stone, maybe 18"x8"x1" roughly. thinking it was just a stone put there to lead through the gate into the yard i dont think anything of it and wedge the shovel under it to lift it out. as i roll it over onto the concrete i notice some letters engraved into it. "Frank N. Houston 1858 - 1928" is what it reads, nothing more.

I know the last owners of the house had a different last name and had been there for the last ~50 years if i remember right. a quick google finds nothing about a frank houston.

so what would you do at this point? what do you do with a old headstone? do i try to contact any family i can find? do i call the city about it? is someone buried in my backyard? it was right behind the garage so if theres a ghost maybe he's a car guy and can give me a hand?

Frank! Gosh, we've been looking for him for 40 years! JK. Most likely a misspelling of Frank Houston that was a reject and used as a sidewalk paver. I'd have installed it text up myself...

In reply to pinchvalve:

Well, there's one way to find out.

Yeah, it's not uncommon for headstones to have been repurposed. Still, I'd check with your town clerk's office. They should have a copy of death certificates for anyone who was buried in your town, just in case Frank is still there.

you could also go to the deeds and records section and check further back than the folk from whom you bought the place … see if the name shows up

May very well be buried there. I think that's a cool piece of history of the property, I'd clean it up & leave it be.

The 300 acre farm my parent's house is on, has had at least 2 other home places on it in various locations over the last 150 or so years. A lot of history.

One of the homes burned, and tragically a teenage girl died in the fire. Her grave and head stone is on the Western property line.

The ashes of the German couple who built the original structure my parents have remodeled/added to are spread on the farm as well.

I'd do my level best to research it, find out who Frank was, if he's actually there, but I wouldn't remove the headstone unless I confirmed he wasn't there. If he is, I'd clean it up and leave it be.

• Lee

update, i cant type good haha it is houston, not huston that i wrote, ill edit it

and it was right on the other side of the gate so im guessing it probably was repurposed as a kind of stepping stone, especially since it was face down and butted up against the concrete patio.

I am in a small neighborhood (not a big lot size that someone would bury a family member on)in Columbus, IN and the house was built in '58 along with the rest of the houses around it presumably, so i wouldnt think they would build a whole neighborhood over a graveyard but im sure weirder things have happened.

I plan to do a little research more about him this week to see what i come up with. if theres any family around im sure they would like to have it more then i would.

I'm going with Pinchvalve's misspelling theory.

Photos?

For now, treat it as if someone is buried there.

Do you think there is a reason a stone would be repurposed there? I have family with grave cites on their properties. Not too uncommon.

BTW, SURPRISE!

EDIT: What county & state are you in?

http://records.ancestry.com/frank_n_huston_records.ashx?pid=44444185

this is the closest thing i could find with matching years and the last name is huston which could be the misspelled name idea since the stone reads houston, and he was from kentucky which isnt far from central indiana.

ill put a photo up of it tomorrow probably

You misspelled it right the first time. I believe that it was in fact a stone with a misspelled last name that was re-purposed, based on these finds: Frank Nelson Huston is buried in Garland Brook Cemetery in Indiana and here is his family tree.

Cool find. I would give it a prominent place in the yard, but that's just me.

Maybe ol' Frank got better and his relatives jumped the gun on the headstone.

EastCoastMojo wrote: OK, I believe that it was in fact a stone with a misspelled last name that was repurposed, based on these finds: Frank Nelson Huston is buried in Garland Brook Cemetery in Indiana and here is his family tree. Cool find. I would give it a prominent place in the yard, but that's just me.

good find! well that pretty much answers the riddle then, i guess i have a new decoration for halloween now. it'll probably spend the off season in the garage since Mrs. Dizzle is still a little creeped out by it (she's a sissy)

Glad my genealogy research was able to help! Being the sentimental fool I am, I would probably visit his actual grave and leave some flowers.

edizzle89 wrote: so i wouldnt think they would build a whole neighborhood over a graveyard

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084516/

http://gizmodo.com/rare-indian-burial-ground-quietly-destroyed-for-million-1567902076

Best. Halloween. Decoration. Ever. You need to dig a grave in your yard and hide in it for the kids to come across and find and have you pop out of. The only time it can get better is if you somehow have an actual casket. But those are hard to come by.

Considering how badly folks get screwed in my country when they try to do the right thing and report that they've found a gravesite or burial ground on their land..

I'd bury the damn thing and forget that I ever found it.

edizzle89 wrote: , so i wouldnt think they would build a whole neighborhood over a graveyard but im sure weirder things have happened.

You would be surprised. My college campus was built on a pioneer era graveyard. Heck they tore up the concrete pad benieth an elevator in one building and found it was poured directly on top of a partially exposed set of remains.

Peusdosport and I once found a plaque from a casket with some dude's name on it inside the quarter panel of his '69 Camaro. We promptly threw it as far into the woods as possible.

A neighborhood near mine has several graves of early settlers in the yard of one of the residences. Heads stones are still visible. Every now and then we find an old cemetery on property we are walking. Unless somebody gives us a heads up, they are difficult to find. Many times it really is just a stone stuck in the ground.

There is a Revolutionary era cemetery in the woods a few miles from my house. Some of the markers are just actual stones standing upright to mark the spot. I suspect that they were either for children or the poor.

I have a long story about digging a grave that I'll have to share with you guys someday.

Around here any big tree has a good chance of being a grave marker. Was pretty common to plant trees instead of markers back when there were still active skirmishes with various tribes to keep from revealing that people had died and the homestead might not be at full strength.

No time like the present Woody!